Humor coach and keynote speaker on communication Jeremy Nicholas believes that X’s instantaneous nature might be why there’s so much hilarious content on the platform.

“It’s perfect for topical jokes, reacting to topical news stories. Of course, that does mean you need to be careful not to post something without thinking it through. It’s best to run it through a few filters in your head before you post it,” he advises.

Another factor that contributes to the plethora of jokes on X might be its huge user base. Since there are around 429 million X users worldwide, it’s a great place for comedians or funny people in general to get noticed and shared more. Because the platform’s audience is so wide, it’s also easier for people to find an audience or the type of content they enjoy on X, no matter what they like. 

In addition, comedian and comedy coach Manny Garavito mentions X’s algorithm. It learns what type of content the general user tends to interact with and feeds them more of it. This essentially eliminates the search needed to find posts that are enjoyable for people. 

Since X posts are limited to 280 characters, we were curious to know if writing short-form jokes is more difficult than longer ones. It turns out it’s not. “Humour works best with fewer words,” says Nicholas. “The best jokes have no fat on them at all. If a word doesn’t add to the setup or the punchline, it should be cut.”

“The real challenge is turning a long joke into a short one without losing the punch—or stretching a short joke into a TED Talk without losing the audience,” says Garavito. 

A challenge that writers of short jokes might face is resisting the urge to skip punctuation, says Garavito. Meanwhile, Nicholas adds, “You can’t be rambling when you’ve only got 280 characters to play with, but that’s a good thing. No one has ever said ‘I enjoyed that joke, but just wish it had gone on longer.’”

What can help while writing funny content on X is staying as honest as possible. “The closer a joke is to the truth, the funnier it is,” says Nicholas. “I work a lot with professional speakers on adding laughs to their keynotes and the same rules apply. If you go too far off the track of truth, it becomes unbelievable and not as funny.”

“Spot the trend, call out the obvious, then flip it on its head,” recommends Garavito. “The punchline should feel like the joke will lose you followers and gain you some new ones.”

“A good way of writing jokes for X is to start with some source material and then add your own comment,” adds comedy writing coach and director Chris Head.

“A great way to arrive at topical jokes is to do this with news headlines," he says. Statistics or proverbs can also be great material for a joke. “Find some stats as a starting point for a joke. You could take a surprising attitude to the stat—or deliberately misunderstand what it’s saying. You can also interrupt a well-known saying and change how it finishes, or try looking up inspirational quotes and adding your own afterthought.”

The type of comedy that is shared on X isn’t significantly different from the one that is told on a stand-up stage. The main thing they have in common is putting the punchline of the joke (the big reveal that explains the whole point of a joke) at the end. Doing this is crucial in making people laugh, whether a person is typing an X post or standing in front of an audience.

Knowing the basic structure of a joke can actually help people be funnier online or while writing posts on X. It’s usually comprised of a setup and punchline. The latter was already discussed previously.

The former is essentially the topic that the joke is going to be all about. It can range from personal experiences like relationships, work, and traveling to politics and various world events. The important part is that the topic has to be introduced as a weird, absurd, or problematic thing. On top of that, the start of the joke shouldn’t be funny. It should be the original, truthful, or interesting segment where the person has some kind of opinion and attitude. For instance, “I went to the dentist last week. I usually hate it, but this time was different…”

Having such knowledge can not only help on the stand-up stage but also entertain others online, as X works similarly to comedy, as you have to be quick and to the point.